Young Seal Rescued From Peninsula Parking Garage

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA — A young seal was taken to the Marine Mammal Center near Sausalito on Sunday after being rescued from a Redwood City parking garage, the Redwood City Fire Department said. The northern fur seal, named Santos by the fire department, appears to be in good health and will be released back into the wild after an unknown date, said a center spokesperson.

A person out walking their dog around 7 a.m. saw the five-month-old seal pup on the first floor of the Marshall Street parking garage, said Redwood City Fire Battalion Chief Chuck Lax. The pedestrian's barking dog scared the seal to the next level down. The pedestrian walked a half block to the fire station to alert officials, Lax said.

The department suspects Santos found his way into the garage via Redwood Creek, which leads to the bay and runs directly behind the fire station. Still, seal rescue calls are very rare, Lax said.

Lucky for Santos, a crew member on duty had ranching experience and knew how to tie a knot that would allow him to rope in the seal without choking him.

"We knew something was wrong because the seal actually let us get close to it," Lax said.

The crew led Santos onto a tarp, folded up the tarp and led him onto the engine. They made a pen for Santos in the back of a utility truck, spoke with a Marine Mammal Center employee and were advised to give him some space.

The crew backed off and began to film Santos. He started to fall asleep as soon as they left.

When the Marine Mammal Center crew arrived, they explained to firefighters that seal pups tend to split from their moms around four months old. They couldn't have been apart long before Santos got lost, Lax said.

The center allowed the department to name the seal. They asked to name him Santos, the middle name of one of the crew members who helped save the seal.

Santos arrived at the hospital around 1 p.m. Sunday. A veterinarian late Monday morning determined he was in pretty good bodily condition with no obvious wounds, said Marine Mammal Center spokesperson Giancarlo Rulli. Still, staff decided to put Santos in intensive quarantine to give him time to settle down.

"It had quite a journey getting here to our hospital," he said.

Santos will be tube-fed a formula of water and ground Alaskan herring three times per day, Rulli said. At some point during his stay at the hospital, he'll head out with other northern fur seal pups around his age to try eating fish. Santos will eventually be released back into the wild.

Anyone who sees a sick or injured marine mammal is asked to keep distance and call the Marine Mammal Center's 24/7 hotline at 415-289-SEAL (7325).

Bay City News Service contributed to this report.